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The House

The Insiders look back on 2017

With Christmas just days away we decided to reconvene the Insiders for one last time to look back at the year. We wanted their take on the political storylines of the year, how well the party leaders have done, and the most important story that went under-reported during 2017. The Insiders are, of course: David Herle, principal partner at the Gandalf Group, Kathleen Monk, who's a principal at Earnscliffe, and last but not least Jaime Watt, executive chair of Navigator, Limited.
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In 2019, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, right, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, left, will make up the youngest slate of major party leaders in Canada's electoral history. (Canadian Press)

What did The Insiders make of the 2017 political year?

We convened David Herle, principal partner at the Gandalf Group, Kathleen Monk, principal at Earnscliffe, and Jaime Watt, executive chair of Navigator Ltd, to discuss the main storylines, the most important story that went under-reported during 2017, as well as the biggest political coups and blunders of the past twelve months.

Main storylines:

David Herle: "It's what's been going on in Alberta. Jason Kenney in forging together, sort of against their will, the two conservative parties in Alberta has reconfigured politics there in a way to could result in a change of government. I'm not saying the NDP are going to lose the election, but I'm saying that Jason Kenney has put in place the most favourable circumstances with which to beat them. And the election of Jason would have a very significant impact, and change on the nature of federal-provincial relations and the working of the federation going forward."

Jaime Watt: "The biggest political storyline of the year is Prime Minister Trudeau's handling of the Trump dossier. I think it's incredibly important for Canada both domestically and from a foreign policy basis. I think given the fact that we could have been just run over by the Trump steamroller, I think what the prime minister has done, what minister Freeland has done has been actually quite spectacular. And if they can pull this off, that's, I think, guaranteed reelection for another four years."

Biggest political blunder:

DH: "Almost everything about the Kevin O'Leary candidacy is a strategic blunder."

"A guy who was writing letters to prime ministers and premiers, and calling them out on issues, has essentially disappeared from Canada, disappeared from Canadian politics with his reputation completely in tatters."

Kathleen Monk: "It's got to be the strategic blunder that was the communications roll-out, and the failure to manage expectations around Morneau's tax plan. Any political operative knows when you're going to attack the tax system or really have any kind major policy change like that that affects many stakeholders, having a bullet-proof message, and really understanding where your stakeholders are going to go on certain issues is crucial." 

Best political play:

DH: "There's a new government in Canada, out in British Columbia.  That's a result of the NDP beating a very tough and savvy Liberal campaign team lead by Christy Clark, and then convincing the Green Party to join them in what appears to be a pretty strong coalition government. So my best political play of the year goes to (B.C. NDP leader and premier ) John Horgan, who took power.   

KM: "There was very important moment that happened on November 28. That was when Justin Trudeau stood up in the House and delivered an apology to the LGBTQ community for basically 25 years of the public service... members being drive out because of how they identified sexually. It was important moment, there weren't a lot of dry tears in the House that day."

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